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Steve A

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Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Steve A » Thu Feb 13, 2014 7:06 am

Sigh, here we go again. Every time there's a mega merger like this, consumers lose.

Losers

Consumers: While cable providers don’t necessarily compete head-on in almost all parts of the country because of geographical strongholds, this proposed deal would consolidate significant power in the hands of Comcast on both the video and broadband side. For consumers, this means that while Time Warner Cable doesn’t offer a broadband cap, after Comcast takes over, the 11 million TWC broadband subscribers are probably going to get a cap. With such large market share, Comcast which is already the largest broadband provider, will gain even more power when it comes to dictating the terms of over a third of the nation’s broadband and TV experience.


More here: http://gigaom.com/2014/02/12/comcast-and-time-warner-cable-forget-tv-it-is-all-about-broadband/

We're actually getting ready to "cut the cord" in our house, using cable for the broadband connection to get movies and TV from Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu, and VOIP for our home phone service. Of course if our new cable overloards cap our usage, we'll be constantly looking over our shoulders to make sure we're within their boundaries. I'm also guessing internet rates will go up, sacrificing economies of scale for corporate profits.

Actions like this are a good argument for a municipality to run their own fiber network.
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Gary Guss

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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Gary Guss » Thu Feb 13, 2014 7:33 am

Need to start regulating these things as a public utility like electrcity, water and gas. I agree municipal wifi would be great, but Louisville kind of gave that away by not owning LGE. Look up Glasgow Electric Plant board.. They have had a public internet and cable service for decades and its much cheaper than the sorry ass services we have to put up with. http://www.glasgowepb.net/ .. Possibility city .. NOT!
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Michelle R.

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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Michelle R. » Thu Feb 13, 2014 10:24 am

This does not make me happy. I've heard lots of things about Comcast, and none of them are good.
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Robin Garr

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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Robin Garr » Thu Feb 13, 2014 11:33 am

I have a friend in Memphis who got shoveled into ComCrap (from Time Warner, I think?) and she absolutely hates it.

Time to reconsider UVerse, maybe?
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Gary Guss » Thu Feb 13, 2014 11:36 am

I have Uverse, its okay but its pretty slow
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Steve A » Thu Feb 13, 2014 12:22 pm

Gary Guss wrote:Need to start regulating these things as a public utility like electricity, water and gas..

I agree, especially since AT&T is actively working to phase out landlines.

Robin Garr wrote:Time to reconsider UVerse, maybe?

Maybe, but you should be aware that there's already a bandwidth cap on Uverse, though word has it they're not enforcing it yet.
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Robin Garr » Thu Feb 13, 2014 12:26 pm

Hey! Cable carries the FOOD NETWORK, so this discussion is about food! :mrgreen:

With that as a very weak excuse, I think this topic is of such broad interest that I'm going to shuffle it over to the main forum.
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Suzi Bernert

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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Suzi Bernert » Thu Feb 13, 2014 1:07 pm

Chattanooga has fiber that was put in by their electric company. My brother-in-law pays half that we pay TWC for 20 meg and TV and he gets a gig and TV. LouisvilleMetro is exploring fiber and had 8 responses to a Request for Information. One was TWC. The details have not been released yet. If you are interested in fiber, go to http://www.louisvillefiber.com and enter your address. The stats will be used to show where the interest is.

When we were in Kansas City last summer, Google Fiber was taking TWC to the cleaners. They were offering $300 gift cards just for signing up with them.
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Gordon M Lowe » Thu Feb 13, 2014 1:12 pm

This seems like a monopoly in the making. I remember when Ma Bell got broken up because of that sort of thing, so I'm surprised this is being allowed, but I guess I'm naive, :wink:

I hate the sound quality of VOIP, and will always cherish my land line. I recently read an article in The New Yorker about TV and the internet, and it definitely seems to be headed toward further blending.
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Jason H » Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:28 pm

Let's understand a few things:

1. Time Warner and Comcast are similar. I have had both before. In hindsight Insight was better than both. Trust me on this.

2. The cable companies do already have a monopoly. This is fact. No two cable companies are allowed to share the same market. Remember that satellite and cable companies are different and operate differently so they are not on the same playing field.

3. It really does not matter if they merge. The problem is that there are at least five different cable companies across america and WOW! is rated the highest. Until we can have more than one cable company in the same market, we will always have to use the company available to us.

4. For a person such as myself, I need 3 things from cable: HBO, Showtime, and broadband internet speed. I have seen from my parents and friends the experience of satellite and it is just not the same. If it works for you then great.

5. Prices are too high for cable. There are members of congress looking into forcing cable companies to sell individual channels. That is my dream.I would love to buy the internet and just about 10 quality channels.

To the wonderful people who read this, just keep your finger crossed that we don't have our rates increased anytime soon. If so remember that many people have had good luck negotiating their price down. Unfortunately, I am not one. I however got Time Warner to increase my internet speed and give me every single channel except for Encore and Stars for the same price I was paying with Insight ($130.). For me that works. A lot of useless channels, but hey sometimes I feel useless.
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by JustinHammond » Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:11 pm

Jason H wrote:

2. The cable companies do already have a monopoly. This is fact. No two cable companies are allowed to share the same market. Remember that satellite and cable companies are different and operate differently so they are not on the same playing field.




TWC and AT&T are both offered in my market. Is AT&T not cable?
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Michelle R.

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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Michelle R. » Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:14 pm

From what I understand, Comcast is expensive, and their customer service is just flat-out awful. Lovely.
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Jeff Cavanaugh » Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:52 pm

No, AT&T is not a cable company.

But TWC and WOW compete head to head in Columbus, where my parents live. They're definitely both cable companies.
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Steve P » Thu Feb 13, 2014 8:05 pm

I can't believe ya'll still have cable...DirecTV is the -only- way to go.
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Re: Comcast to buy Time Warner

by Robin Garr » Thu Feb 13, 2014 9:07 pm

Steve P wrote:I can't believe ya'll still have cable...DirecTV is the -only- way to go.

Two serious questions:

1. Does it work when it's raining? Stormy?

2. Does it give you high-speed Internet of sufficient quality for streaming movies?
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